A Young Girls' Life Cut Short - The Cold Case Of Patricia Lupton

Case: 2/1959

Name: Patricia Lupton
Alias: 'Pat' to her immediate family, 'Patsy' to her extended family
Murdered/Body Found: March 9, 1959
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date Of Birth: July 4, 1946
Age:12

A Little Bit About Patricia's Case: 

On or about February 16, 1959, 12-year-olds Patricia Lupton, Brenda Walker and Lucy Novak and 11-year-old Maureen Monaghan, friends and neighbors in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, saw a notice posted on the bulletin board at the A & P supermarket then located at Kennedy Park Shopping Plaza, at Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East. The notice called for "applications from babysitters": the girls, having all had experience babysitting for their neighbors, put their names, addresses and phone numbers on the accompanying list. (Patricia, Brenda and Maureen were trying to save up $20 apiece to go to Camp Sherbourne, near Bolton, Ont., the following summer.) Three weeks later, on March 9th, Patricia  received a call from a man answering the ad. This man, identifying himself as "Mr. Johnson," said that he and his wife were going to visit their ailing infant son in hospital, and therefore needed a babysitter for their slightly-older son. (Brenda, at this time, was bedridden with the flu and Maureen's line was busy; Lucy was never called.) Patricia agreed to come to Kennedy Park Drugs, in the same plaza, where "Mrs. Johnson" would pick her up. With her love of small children in general, Patricia had become highly regarded both by the children she'd babysat in the past and by their parents: therefore her own parents, Albert and Bridget Lupton, felt safe letting her accept the job. Nonetheless, when she left home at 6:20 to keep the appointment, she agreed to check in with them upon reaching the address. By seven o'clock Patricia had failed to call. Four hours later, on the CBC-TV news, her anxious family learned that she had been found dead at about 7:20 in a snowbank on McCowan Road, less than two miles from her home. She had been strangled with her own scarf; though she was not sexually assaulted, the somewhat-disarrayed state of her clothing, plus bruises to both her knees, made it probable that sexual assault had been attempted.

The next day, upon learning of her friend's violent death, Maureen Monaghan gave up babysitting. Also that same day, Ontario's then-Attorney-General, Kelso Roberts, asked supermarket chains to ban babysitting ads from their bulletin boards. Patricia's death fed already-high public outrage in a city which had seen the several horrific and unsolved murder cases between 1947 and 1956.

Details of Investigation Provided by the Toronto Police Service:
On Monday, March 9, 1959, at about 7:05 p.m., police responded to an emergency call on McCowan Road south of Ellesmere Road. The victim was discovered off the roadway, suffering from medical trauma. Despite life-saving efforts by emergency personnel, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe the victim was last seen alive leaving her residence en route to Kennedy Park Plaza sometime after 5:30 p.m.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Please contact Homicide at 416-808-7400, or at homicide@torontopolice.on.ca

Phone anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477); or via the internet at www.222tips.com; or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637); or download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.

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Susan Cadieux - Lured To Her Death At 5 Years Old - Still Unsolved

Name: Susan Cadieux
Date Of Birth: December 21, 1950
Murdered/Body Found: January 7, 1956
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Age: 5 Years

A Little Bit About Susan's Case: 

On Friday, January 6, 1956 at about 7:15pm, 5-year-old Susan Cadieux was playing in the schoolyard of St Mary's School located at 345 Lyle St with her older brothers and another girl from the neighbourhood.  The Cadieux family lived across the road at 665 York St, not far from the school.

At approximately 7:45pm, a man approached the group and spoke with Susan who relayed to the other children that the man was goingto give her something.

The male also told them that he was supposed to meet with the St. Mary's church priest and stated that he lived on York St. as he pointed his finger towards King St.

When the children got distracted by a nearby fall on the ice, the male walked away with Susan.

By 8:00pm, Susan's brothers ran home to tell their parents what had happened and a search for Susan began.  The London Police Force became involved in the search by about 9:30pm that night and by 1:30am on the morning of January 7, over 300 people were searching for Susan.

At 10:08am, Susan Cadieux's fully clothed body was found at the rear of Roy James Construction located at 609 William St. alongside the CPR spur line.

If you have any information about the death of Susan Cadieux please contact us.

In the 1950's police sketches were actually done by hand.  The picture below is a sketch of the male who led Susan away.

Sketch of the male last seen with Susan Cadieux

He was  described as white, 30-40 years old, tall, thin, and unshaven.  He was wearing a light brown overcoat which was unbuttoned, unbuckled black galoshes that flapped openly, and a dark Russian style or army Melton hat with ear flaps.

Susan was playing in the playground of St Mary's School on the southwest corner of Lyle St at King St. Her body was found approximately 9 blocks to the north west at 609 William St near the northwest corner of Central Ave at William St.










If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
London Police
Crime Stoppers

The Unsolved Murder of Helen Gillings - Cold Blooded Murder In The Hammer

Case: 95-030477

Name: Helen Gillings
Murdered/Body Found: February 17, 1995
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Date Of Birth: 1976
Age: 19
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color:Dark Brown
Race / Ethnicity: Native / Aboriginal / Indigenous
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Characteristics: Petite size

A Little Bit About Helen's Case:

Helen Gillings was a 19 year old Hamilton resident known to frequent the area of King and Emerald Street in Hamilton. She was distinguished by her petite size and long straight dark hair. Helen Gillings worked in the sex trade and is said to frequent a bar at the corner where King and Emerald Street North meet called the Straw Hat. . At approximately 5:00 pm Friday February 17, 1995 her body was found in an alley at the rear of 483 King Street East in Hamilton. She was naked and stuffed beneath an overturned couch in the dark and dirty alley behind a King Street East apartment building, a short walk from the bar. She had been strangled. She was only 19 years old. It is unclear if she was killed in the alley or if her body was dumped there. She was last seen alive entering this alley with a male at approximately 1:00 am Thursday February 16, 1995. 

A Little Bit About Helen: 

Her life was never easy. She was born in Kenora, Ontario and was adopted by the Gillings family when she was four years old - along with her younger sister. The siblings were raised, along with the Gillings own son, in the small farm town of Sundre, Alberta, 100 km north of Calgary.

Helen was bright. She loved animals and drawing, but not school. By 12, she was rebellious and had run away from home several times. By the tender age of 14, she was living on the street. Helen's adoptive parents were not Indigenous. In that time there wasn't the resources and support where they lived that they have now, but her parents loved Helen and tried their best.

When she turned 16, Helen moved to Toronto where she met Jerry, who was five years older. They moved to Hamilton together in 1994 into a place on Wilson Street, just before their first daughter was born. Neighbours said when Helen arrived, she was petite and pretty, with long, shiny hair and big dark eyes. She usually wore a sweatsuit and was pleasant to talk to. But life wore her down quickly and she aged before their eyes. Jerry once told 'The Spectator' that Helen had 'turned her life around', however Hamilton Police Service and various neighbours saw she was working in the sex trade.

Jerry and Helen had been evicted from their apartment for not paying the rent. A neighbour claimed to see a man throw Helen out of an apartment lobby where she had gone to get warm. "She landed face down in the gutter and the guy just walked around her," the neighbour said. On Jan. 26, 1995, Helen had a second daughter. She was born prematurely, weighing just three and a half pounds. St. Joseph's Hospital kept her there. Less than a month later, Helen would be murdered. Heher family did not come to Hamilton for her funeral. Her newborn baby was still in the hospital and her first born child was just two years old. Both of her daughters were eventually adopted.










If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: 
Homicide Unit at (905) 546-3801Hamilton Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)

Submit a Tip on this website.
*The Hamilton Police Services Board is now offering a reward of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars, to be paid in Canadian funds, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for this murder. Claims will be recognized only when made in writing and final disbursement of funds will be determined by the Chief of Police.*

Sources:
CBC Case Profile
Crimestoppers Hamilton
23 years after her unsolved murder, Hamilton remembers Helen Gillings

The 'Boy In The Box' Mystery of Philadelphia

America's Unknown Child

Born: Approx. 1950 - 1953
Status: Unidentified for 60 years (2017)
Died: February 1957
Cause of Death: Homicide
Body Discovered: Fox Chase, Philadelphia
Resting Place: Ivy Hill Cemetery, Cedarbrook, Philadelphia
Names: "America's Unknown Child"; 'Boy In The Box'
Ethnicity: Nordic, Northern Europe
Known for: Unidentified victim of homicide
Height: 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
Weight: 30 lb (14 kg)

A Little About The Case
The "Boy in the Box" is the name given to an unidentified murder victim, approximately 4 to 6 years old, whose naked, battered body was found in a cardboard box in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957. He is also commonly called "America's Unknown Child." His identity has never been confirmed and the case remains open.

The boy's body, wrapped in a plaid blanket, was found in the woods off Susquehanna Road in Fox Chase, Philadelphia. He was naked inside a cardboard box that once contained a baby's bassinet from J.C. Penney. The body was first found by a young man checking his muskrat traps. Fearing that the police would confiscate his traps, he did not report the matter. A few days later, a college student spotted a rabbit running into the underbrush. Knowing there were animal traps in the area, he stopped his car to investigate and discovered the body. He too was reluctant to have any contact with the police, but did report his find the following day.

The deceased boy's fingerprints were taken, and police originally were optimistic that his identity would be discovered quickly. However, nobody ever came forward with any useful information.

The case attracted massive media attention in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, with pictures of the boy even being placed in every gas bill in Philadelphia. However, despite the huge publicity at the time and sporadic re-interest throughout the years, the case remains unsolved to this day, and the boy's identity is still unknown.

He was initially buried in a potter's field. In 1998, his body was exhumed with the hope of extracting DNA. He was reburied at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, which donated a large plot. The coffin, headstone and funeral service were also donated by the son of the man who had originally buried him in 1957. There was significant turnout and media coverage when he was reburied.

He has a large headstone that is simply marked, "America's Unknown Child." City residents keep the grave decorated with flowers and stuffed animals.

Like many unsolved murders, many tips and theories have been advanced toward a solution of the case. Although most have been dismissed, two possible solutions to the case have excited considerable interest among the police and media and have been extensively investigated.

'The Foster Home'

The first theory involves a foster home that was located approximately 1.5 miles from the discovery site. In 1960, Remington Bristow, an employee of the medical examiner's office who doggedly pursued the case until his death in 1993, contacted a New Jersey psychic, who told him to look for a house that seemed to match the foster home. When the psychic was brought to the Philadelphia discovery site, she led Bristow straight to the foster home. Upon attending an estate sale at the foster home, Bristow discovered a bassinet similar to the one sold at J. C. Penney. He also discovered blankets hanging on the clothesline similar to that in which the boy's body had been wrapped. Bristow believed that the child belonged to the stepdaughter of the man who ran the foster home; they disposed of the boy's body so that she wouldn't be exposed as an unwed mother, as in 1957 single motherhood attracted significant social stigma. Bristow theorized that the boy's death was accidental. Despite this circumstantial evidence, the police were unable to find any concrete links between the Boy in the Box and the foster family.

In 1998, Philadelphia police lieutenant Tom Augustine, who is in charge of the investigation, and several members of the Vidocq Society, a group of retired policemen and profilers investigating the crime, interviewed the foster father and the daughter, whom he had married. The interview seemed to confirm to them that the family was not involved in the case, and the foster home investigation is considered closed. According to a DNA test, the stepdaughter was ruled out as the boy's mother.

'"M"'s story'

The second major theory is one brought forward in February 2002 by a woman identified only as "M". She claimed that her abusive mother purchased the unknown boy, named "Jonathan", from his birth parents in the summer of 1954. Subsequently, the youngster was subjected to extreme physical and sexual abuse for two and a half years, then killed in a fit of rage by being slammed to the floor after he vomited in the bathtub. "M"'s mother then cut the boy's long hair (accounting for the unprofessional cut that police noted upon their initial observations of the crime scene and bruises around the victim's hairline), and dumped the boy's body in the then-secluded Fox Chase area. "M" went on to say that as they were preparing to remove the boy's body from the trunk, a passing male motorist pulled alongside to inquire whether they needed assistance. As the pair ignored the would-be Good Samaritan, while being careful to obstruct their own car's license plate from his view, the man eventually drove off. This story corroborated confidential testimony given by a male witness in 1957, which alleged the body was placed in a box previously discarded at the scene. Police considered the story quite plausible, but were troubled by "M"'s testimony, as she had a history of mental illness. When interviewed, neighbors who had access to the house denied that there had been a young boy living in the house, and said that "M"'s claims were "ridiculous."

The story was profiled on the television series America's Most Wanted on October 3, 1998 and on July 12, 2008. The television series Cold Case, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order: SVU have all used fictionalized accounts of the story as the basis for episodes.

America's Unknown Child

Find A Grave - America's Unknown Child

The Doe Network - Case File: 4UMPA